ohhh how cute!

its a legit concern, what is the vet going to have you do?

if you are worried I guess take him to another vet :/ good luck!

maybe he will grow out of it too...

grow out of what? Are we talking about the same thing? lol

JUST IGNORE WHAT I SAY

I'M APPARENTLY ON CRACK TODAY :-P LOL

Just measure his head... I have never heard of anything like this

is his head to big or to small?

she thinks it's too big?

What a sweet little snugglebum!

Is it crazy that Hog makes me want to have a baby, but not a human baby a boston terrier baby? If it is, I don't want to be sane :p
;)
so cute, I hope all goes well with future vet visits. His head looks fine to me.

No it's not crazy :) Yeah his head looks fine to me too..

thank you

I haven't a clue on the head size thing. If it were abnormally shaped I would be concerned, but size...as far as being too big? Maybe if it were atypically small. It would also be highly unusual that the brain would grow into and compress in the skull. If it doesn't have room to grow, it would quit growing...not compress. Compression would happen if it swelled as a result of injury. But what do I know? I work with rats and humans. *shrugs*

I'd find out exactly what she means by elogated palate and how surgery would correct the problem. She should be able to show you what she would do in surgery and such. What if you opt not to have the surgery? What would the improvements of surgery be?

Charlie had stenotic nares correction at the same time he was fixed. I'm really glad I had it done at the same time: one recouperation period, only one visit to remove stitches, one anesthesia cost, one overnight, etc.

Yeah i think its all weird too. From what I have seen with my two other BT's at this vet it seems like they only want to make money...


The head thing is so bogus. It is so not too big!! I will find out more in a couple weeks

Hog is so adorable :)
Pls keep me (and the community) posted about his health ,including head. I've never heard of that before .... but i'm going to ask my local rescue group if they have.

ps. the bag fits your little Hogwart perfectly ;)

Thank you and i definately will keep you updated. I find it so odd.. thank you about the bag :)

My advice to you is to try another vet and get a second opinion. That just seems wacky to me. I've never seen a picture of Hog that looks like his head is too big! And wouldn't a vet know if he had an elongated palate or not by examining him? What's this "probably" stuff? Don't worry yourself before you take Hoggy to someone else. If your vet isn't being clear with you and you're not completely satisfied that he/she makes sense and cares about your animal then it's probably the wrong vet for your baby. Just my 2 cents... :)

Yeah i mean if she said i need to start worrying about his head i would definately go to another vet. she said not to worry and i think she just thinks his head looks too big because its all white.

the elongated palate they are going to find out about that when they nuter him.. and if it needs to be fixed i will fix it

I haven't heard of the big head thing either. I could see if they are talking about hydrocephalus - but wouldn't she just say that? I will see what I can find out when I go to work tomorrow and try to ask one of the vets.
I agree with others - get a second opinion on the head thing. What is the treatment plan for this if his head IS getting too big? It also sounds kind of weird that she isn't too concerned about his congestion and will allow it to go until his neuter in a few weeks - even when she says he might PASS OUT!? That's because of lack of oxygen, right? Scary! Did she give you any advice on how to handle it if he does pass out?

Maybe ask the folks at bostonterrier.org ?????

(he's so so cute!)

Hi yeah i think she is nuts about the head thing. His head is sooo not big. No she meant that later in life if you dont fix the nasal thing dogs can pass out. She did not say Hog is going to.

She did say she is going to take an xray.. now is that for his head?? or for the nasal thing? because it costs 100 and i dont want to pay 100 for this bogus head stuff.

She was not clear on the head thing what-so-ever. She just said something like this: there is fluid in the brain and then new fluid comes in to release the old fluid.. if his skull keeps growing the new fluid wont be able to come in and his brain will compress.

My mom said something like sometimes babies are born with it??

She just told us not to worry and to just keep measuring his head.

Now i would love it if you could tell me if the xray is for the head or the nasal though.

So I talked to one of the vets where I work and asked her about the head thing. The only thing she could think of is that it could be hydrocephalus...and how you explain it, that's what it sounds like your vet is trying to explain. Did your vet feel the fontanelle in the head to see if it was closed yet? (yeah it does happen in human babies too)
Here are a few articles that that I found online about hydrocephalus:
http://www.upei.ca/~cidd/Diseases/nervous%20system%20disorders/hydrocephalus.htm

http://www.avmi.net/NewFiles/MRI/GTP/GTP_2001-08.html

http://www.pawfectchihuahuas.com/Hydrocephalus.html

http://www.cvm.umn.edu/academics/current_student/Notes/Hydrocephalus.pdf


I believe the xrays would be to view the skull, not the nasal since the xrays will show the bones, not the muscle (I assume she is taking radiographs - not doing an ultrasound or mri or anything). Although - I thought you had said that she said he has an "elongated palate" not narrow stenotic nares???? These are totally different things. The elongated palate is the top of the mouth, at the back of the throat - the palate will tend to hang long down over the throat... here's a website to explain it better: http://www.bulldoginformation.com/elongated-soft-palate.html . It should just be a quick check deep into Hog's mouth while he's under anesthesia to see if he does have an elongated palate. I had Kiko's mouth checked at her spay, and she came back with a "flabby" palate - but not a concern as it wasn't elongated.

But of course you might call your vet and confirm all of that. It sounds like she didn't explain things well ... Hope this helps though!

thank you so much! so what is stenotic nares then? because she definately said an elongaed palate. God this is confusing. Well from what i read about the skull thing it says puppies that have this are not easy to train and have seizures or bad vision ect. He didnt have any of the symptons the articles said.

I seriously think all my vet wants to do at times is make money.. just from what i have seen from tink and rebel. His head is perfectly fine. What should i do?? pay 100$ for the Xray?

what would you do? i want to make sure but from the sounds of those articles my vet is tripppppin!!!!!!!!

I would get a second opinion from another vet. Also, if you are able - talk to Hog's breeder and find out if there were ever any problems like this before or if any of his siblings have had any of this. AND arm yourself with as much information as you can about these things before you go to the vet so that you are as well informed as you can be also. Maybe ask around (maybe at emergency vets or dog trainers in the area) to see who is a vet that has a good reputation. That's how my hosp gets the most new clients - referrals from emergency hospitals, current clients and dog trainers. Of course, this may cost about the same if you went ahead and got the xrays done. If you were to get the xrays done (btw - that is less than what we charge) - make sure you are VERY informed about what and why she is doing those xrays. You're paying her for this information - so she better explain it until you understand it. Sometimes they dont even show you the xrays - so make sure you see them for yourself too.

Stenotic nares is just a fancy pants way of saying "abnormally narrow nostril. The quick fix for this is rhinoplasty and (like the check for the elongated soft palate) can be done during the spay - although I am sure there will be more of a charge for it...it's a nose job after all.
Here is a website that has information on both the elongated soft palate and the stenotic nares - these are both relatively common to the flat-nose (brachycephalic) breeds as is the boston terrer:
http://www.petsurgery.com/surgicaldiseasesofairway.html
and one explaining stenotic nares:
http://petplace.netscape.com/Articles/artShow.asp?artID=77

Working in the veterinary business for 2 years now - I can definitely tell you there are A LOT of really good vets out there, and there are vets out there not so good (just like human doctors). Sad, but true.

im printing this out and taking it to the vet with me tommorow. This makes me really angry. I might even switch doctors. Thank you so much though you have helped me times 20802208802802